The precedent, we thought, was set the year George Mitchell announced he would not seek re-election. It turned the Maine political landscape upside down while we three Maine reporters were driving to Fort Myers, Fla., for the annual pageant we call Red Sox spring training.

We were somewhere in Pennsylvania when the political news came over national radio. Every year we drive down to Fort Myers now, we expect some major announcement to spice up the long, two-day trip.

This year I was expecting that the Red Sox would end their tease and announce that the on-again, off-again trade with Alex Rodriguez, the best baseball player in the land, was consummated. This then would be the year that the Red Sox finally overtook the Damn Yankees and maybe, just maybe, end the 86-year drought, win the World Series and let us all die in peace. There would be dancing in the streets of Fort Myers.

In case you forgot, let me remind you. Since the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth (sob) to the Yankees in 1918, the Yankees have won 26 world championships while the Red Sox have won exactly, let me see … none. For 86 years the fans have been saying, “wait til next year.”

Last year, the Sox came within five outs of eliminating the Yankees. Close, but no victory cigar.

This year, the Yankees lost three starting pitchers in Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and David Wells while the Sox picked up authentic World Series hero Curt Schilling and an authentic closer in Keith Foulke. This could be the year.

But no.

As I am packing the (17 mpg) Tundra for the trip south, the news is that “A-Rod” has taken the bucks and signed with the Yankees, instead. Just as we demented Red Sox fans were preparing to overtake the Yankees after finishing in second place behind the Yankees for six years in a row, the Damn Yankees have assembled one of the strongest offensive teams in history.

They now have Derek Jeter (.324 batting average), Jason Giambi (41 home runs) and Gary Sheffield (39 home runs) to line up with Rodriguez, only the best ballplayer in either league, with 47 home runs and a .298 batting average. That’s not fair.

The news is so bad, so catastrophic, that it was almost enough to stop packing the truck and stay home.

Almost.

A quick look at the weather map shows temperatures above the 80-degree mark almost every day in Fort Myers. It was 3 degrees outside Cobb Manor while I was packing the truck. I thought about the Holiday Inn RiverWalk hotel on the river. I thought about that huge pool surrounded by palm trees. I thought about hot nights and cigars over the river. I thought about baseball in the morning.

I finished the packing, with a somewhat heavier heart.

The storied Red Sox-Yankees battle is sometimes called the best rivalry in sports. As demented Yankee fan and radio-television talk show host Tony Kornheiser loves to remind us, this is no “rivalry.” He asks, “Does the hammer consider the nail a rival?” A mean-spirited talk show host, indeed.

Because we have been beaten so often, many of the more pessimistic fans already are making plans for second place. The only positive prediction among these downhearted is beating the Yankees in the playoffs. A-Rod is simply that good.

Spring training hasn’t even started yet.

Wait til next year.

Send complaints and compliments to Emmet Meara at emmetmeara@msn.com.